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Vernacular architecture defines buildings constructed by local people without the help of a professional architect. They are generally constructed by craftsmen trained through apprenticeships or even by individuals simply fulfilling a need. They are made of local materials and reflect local traditions. These include rural and agricultural buildings, folk and popular architecture, and aboriginal and ancestral dwellings. Examples span the range from shotgun houses, Cape Cod cottages, Florida cracker and tidewater architecture, and Swiss chalets, as well as more primitive forms, such as log cabins, igloos, sod houses, stave churches, and wigwams.

Neoclassical architecture evolved as a reaction to Baroque and particularly Rococo excesses, starting around 1720. It includes many sub-genres from the Age of Enlightenment, including Beaux-Arts, Georgian, American Colonial, Federal, Empire, and Regency.

Revivalism and historicism intentionally echo the styles of past architectural styles, often using new materials and techniques. The earliest revival movement was Gothic Revival, which began in England in the late 1740s. Revivalism bloomed in the Victorian period, and included all of the movements associated with “Victorian” architecture, such as Renaissance Revival, Italianate, Baroque Revival, Second Empire, and Queen Anne Style. Revivalism also encompasses post-Victorian styles, such as Beaux-Arts, Romanesque Revival, Mission Revival, and City Beautiful.

The Arts and Crafts movement began in England in the mid-1800’s, and flourished throughout Europe and North America between 1880 and 1910. A counterpoint to mass production brought on by the Industrial Revolution, Arts and Crafts emphasized traditional craftsmanship, basic forms, and trueness to the material used. It includes the architectural styles of Art Nouveau, American Craftsman, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style, and California Bungalow, among others.